Friday, March 31, 2017

Bhoominathar Temple, Veeravanallur, Thirunelveli

Bhoominathar Temple, Veeravanallur, Thirunelveli

Bhoominathar
Temple is dedicated to Hindu God Shiva located at Veeravanallur in Thirunelveli
District of Tamilnadu. Presiding Deity is called as Bhoominathar and Mother is
called as Maragathambigai. Holy Theertham of this Temple is Gnana Theertham.
Sthala Vriksham is Punnai Tree. The temple entrance has different style of
architecture.

Legends

Shiva gave back Yama his life:

As per
the legend, after Yama, the God of death, was kicked off by Lord Shiva in
order to save Markandeya, he became a creeper plant in this site. As Yama
could not perform of his job, there were no deaths on the earth and Bhoo
Devi could not bear the weight of heavy population. She prayed to Shiva.
Shiva gave back Yama his life. Hence he is called as Bhoominathar in this
temple.

The
temple has two praharams. Presiding Deity is called as Bhoominathar and Mother
is called as Maragathambigai. Holy Theertham of this Temple is Gnana Theertham.
Sthala Vriksham is Punnai Tree. The temple entrance has different style of
architecture. The east facing temple is big in size but not gigantic like other
temples in this region. The east facing temple has an incomplete tower.

The
entrance doors have very fine wooden carvings of various deities. The flag
staff, Nandi mandapa and Bali Peetha are all located facing towards the main
shrine in a broad and long covered mandapa full of carved pillars. Near the
flag staff, the bas relief images of Ganesha and Kartikeya are found.

Navagraha,
the nine planets, are located near the Nandi mandapa. The outer prakara is an open
space and it is full of trees and plants. An important factor of temple is
beautiful sculpture found in the pillars all over the temple.

Main Shrine:

The main
shrine is built in 'maada kovil' architectural style (raised platform which can
be reached through steps). The main shrine has moolasthanam, ardha mandapa and
maha mandapa. Bhoominathar is in the form of a small Shiva Linga and is
located inside the moolasthanam. At the entrance of ardha mandapa, there is a
Ganesha idol. The entrance of maha mandapa has two bas relief images - Ganesha
and Kartikeya on peacock.

In maha
mandapa, there is a sub-shrine where so many Utsava (metal) idols such as one
set of big Nataraja and Sivakami, two sets of smaller Nataraja and Sivakami,
Chandrasekhar - Uma, Bhikshatana, etc. are all found. Nandi is facing towards
the moolasthanam and it is located in this hall. The front side mandapa of
maada kovil has many yazhi pillars. The inner prakara is full of pillars with
beautiful carvings. Dhakshinamoorthi alone is found as the niche sculpture.

Inner Prakara:

In inner
prakara, the idols of three Ganeshas, 63 Nayanmars, Sapta matas, Surya,
Chandra, Veerabhadra and Adhikara Nandi are found. The sub-shrines of Ganesha,
Subramanya-Valli-Devasena and Mahalakshmi are also located in the inner
prakara.

Maragathambigai Shrine:

The
Goddess of the temple is Maragathambigai. She is found with two arms and in the
standing posture. A separate main shrine with front side pillared mandapa and
Nandi mandapa is dedicated to her. This shrine is also facing the east
direction and located to the left side of Bhoominathar shrine.

Sandana Sabhapati:

Near the
Nandi mandapa, there is big mandapa and a big sub-shrine. It is dedicated to Nataraja.
There, all the idols such as Nataraja and Sivakami, Patanjali, Karaikkal
Ammaiyar and Vyagrapathar are all made up of sandalwood. Nataraja is named as
Sandana Sabhapati.

Connectivity

Veeravanallur
is located at about 6 Kms west of Cheranmahadevi, 37 Kms from Thirunelveli, 12
Kms from Ambasamudram, 21 Kms from Papanasam, 195 Kms from Madurai and 150 Kms
from Thiruvananthapuram. Nearest Railway Station is located at Ambasamudram
& Veeravanallur and Nearest Airport is located at Madurai and
Thiruvananthapuram.